Set in the oppressive realm of Stormland, "Don't Let Chacha Die" introduces us to Chacha, a teenager grappling with their identity in a society where deviation is met with lethal consequences. In a culture that venerates the God-King—a deity capable of transforming into a mountain lion and producing super-crops through magic—strict doctrines about gender prevail. Here, gender is perceived as a reflection of one's soul's purity, independent of biological sex. The "divine process," established five centuries prior, moulds masculine teenagers into the epitome of manhood. However, Chacha identifies as "bent," an illegal gender punishable by death, compelling them to navigate a treacherous path of conformity and self-preservation.

One of the novel's standout features is its intricate and immersive world-building. Herthwell crafts a dystopian landscape rich with detail, seamlessly weaving together elements of religion, politics, and societal norms. The exploration of themes such as queerness, gender identity, sex work, relationships, and the intersection of religion and politics is both profound and thought-provoking. As a queer reader, I found the nuanced portrayal of these subjects resonant and authentic, offering a mirror to real-world complexities.​

The narrative's structure, spanning multiple perspectives over an extended timeline, allows for deep character development. This approach enabled me to forge strong connections with the characters, understanding their motivations, fears, and desires on a profound level. Witnessing their evolution over time added layers of depth to the story, making their journeys all the more compelling.

However, the novel isn't without its shortcomings. At certain junctures, the pacing lagged, causing my engagement to wane. These slower segments momentarily disrupted the otherwise gripping narrative flow.

Despite this, the uniqueness of the story and its thematic richness overshadowed these lapses, culminating in a memorable reading experience

Ebook received for free through NetGalley

Not many books find the right divide between social commentary, science fiction, and realism. This book did so while also making you root for the main characters. It was tough to put this book down and I'm so glad I came across it. Thanks

Did not finish book. Stopped at 65%.
This book started out promising, with interesting and surprising world-building. This universe was just different enough that it felt like fresher perspective, but eventually became so ham-fisted that it went from allegory to straight-up preaching. I fully agree with the politics at heart, but there are more compelling and subtle ways to go about it.

The overall story was well-written. I really enjoyed the writing style, and found it to be an easy and engaging read. The story felt like it picked up partway through.

I felt a lot of feelings while reading this, and I don't feel strong feelings a lot but I did when reading this. A lot of relatable and heartbreaking feelings. Things like not wanting to die, and just wanting a way out hit home really hard. It was both refreshing and devastating to read feelings I have felt so much put into a book.

"The lack of sex education and the cultural fear around sex means victims are unable to talk about what's happening to them, let alone fight for themselves" <- As someone who was a victim, this is something I feel so strongly. I've often said that a lack of education just makes people more unsafe and it was so refreshing to see it talked about.

Despite being a dystopian, so many of the issues just felt so reflective of our current time, and that added to the heartbreak.

This is a really thought-provoking and beautiful (though emotional) read.

Don't Let Chacha Die by Carrie Herthwell was such a unique Ana enthralling dystopian novel.
A slow burn novel that kept me intrigued and flipping the pages.
I like this world a lot. The overall story is really good and I’m hoping to read more of this author in the future.

Don't Let Chacha Die by Carrie Herthwell was a thrilling, heartbreaking and unique dystopian novel that uses a fascist, dictatorial regime to explore gender identity and resistance to oppression. I absolutely loved the characters and thought they were all well-written and realistic depictions, particularly JP and LB. I would have liked to know more of Lin's story, but as he was probably the most traumatised character, it's probably for the best!

While the characters start their journeys at the cusp of puberty and the story follows them until early adulthood, I would not suggest this is a YA. There are some quite traumatic situations--check your TW's! While the story is captivating, at times it felt like every time I turned the page, a fresh hell was awaiting me--sort of like turning on the news right now...

This was a slow build up, the first third of the book was definitely setting-up for the climax, but once all the pieces fell into place, I was racing through to the end.

'It doesn't matter if we're separated. We're always going to be family, and we're always going to love each other.'

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rep : Non-binary MC, Achillean MC, Asexual SC, Intersex SC, PTSD, Albinism

'I've been considering ending my life for a while now and it hits me in this moment that I've never once actually wanted to die. All this time, what I've wanted was a way out.'

'But if the God-King is a fraud, that means I'm responsible for all the times I did terrible things in his name...the truth is hard'

"This is the gayest homophobic country ever"

'Romantic relationships can't work in a culture where Men have so much built up stuff they're taught to repress and hide; stuff they haven't sorted through. Their needs are too great, so they can't think clearly about how they're treating their lovers.'

'The lack of sex education and the cultural fear around sex means victims are unable to talk about what's happening to them, let alone fight for themselves.'

⏱️Multiple perspectives over many years
🔥Queer dystopia where people are assigned genders
🌎Climate has a storm season where no one can go outside
🛐Discussions of religion
🚫Censorship being used for control
🏰Resist oppression

What I Loved
1) The quote about suicidal ideation made me feel so seen and I think especially with everything going on in America at the moment that quote could make a lot of queer youth be seen. I can't even express how much I related to that quote.

2) The opening has me hooked with the intricate world building - I needed to find out more I was so invested!

3) I liked the topic of intersex people being brought up in this dystopian world obsessed with assigning genders. It showed the author had clearly thought about how it would affect everyone in society.

4) The discussions of any form of intimacy being illegal felt very timely to the book bans happening across America and new laws being implemented that I can totally see leading to something this extreme.

5) The nuance discussed about the people who have done harm in the name of the 'God-King', realised he is a fraud and then had to deal with the responsibility of their actions also feels like a parallel to what a lot of Trump supporters are expressing on social media now when they realise he wasn't trying to make things cheaper for the everyday person but instead was trying to gain power and control for himself (which was very obvious)

6) There was a lot of nuanced discussion of sex work and places that consider themselves ethical sex work. '"There are people out there looking to exploit someone like you." "So this isn't exploitation? In Stormland we don't have buildings where the employees have to be Carts all the time".

7) The discussion about processing schools using the strategy of making each boy enemies rather than friends is so true. If all the boys were friends they would have more power. Again, this feels very topical.

8) The ending truly made me think and I can't wait to continue the series. This wasn't initally a 5 star, but the more I thought about the themes and the quote about suicide especially brought the rating up.

Thank you to Netgalley and Carrie Herthwell for this eARC in exchange for an honest review

I knew this book was going to destroy me and it did not disappoint. I will absolutely be continuing to read when the GeneEarth novels are published and will be following this series.

This was a very unique dystopia novel.
I dosn expect to like it .
But it was a surprise.
Highly recommend.